SpaceX’s Starship rocket explodes mid-flight minutes after launch

News April 21, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

SpaceX test-launched its largest and most powerful Starship rocket on April 20, 2023, at Boca Chica, Texas U.S. The rocket took off from the launching pad with substantial success, however, it fell short of reaching space and exploded mid-air.

The test flight for the rocket was set to last for 90 minutes. After the launch, the spacecraft was supposed to continue eastward, passing over the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans before splashing down in waters near the US state of Hawaii. SpaceX officials said that the partial success of the Starship mission would play a significant role in planning future space flights.

The spacecraft failed to separate from the Super Heavy booster. The booster was meant to provide initial launch thrust to the Starship powered by 33 powerful Raptor engines. At least five of the 33 engines reportedly did not appear to be firing since the start of the flight.

“The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship” the space company said in its statement.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk congratulated the company and said the team “learned a lot” in preparation for its next test launch. He said that the next launch would happen in a few months. SpaceX would require a new launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration to make another attempt in the future, but the company does not expect the process to be as laborious as securing the license for this launch.

Starship is SpaceX’s largest rocket, standing at 120 meters high. The Starship rocket is about 10 meters taller than the Saturn V, the rocket that was used to send the first human crew to the moon by NASA in 1969. In comparison, SpaceX’s most used rocket, Falcon 9, stands 70 meters tall.

*^{SpaceX fully stacked the Starship rocket ahead of its flight test from Starbase. (Image Credit: Twitter/@elonmusk)}*

Starship has been designed to carry cargo and astronauts into space. The test flight did not have any crew on board. SpaceX plans to use the rocket to put astronauts back on the moon in the future. The company is under a $3 billion contract with NASA, hoping to land astronauts on the moon using the spacecraft in 2025. This would be the first astronaut lunar landing in over 50 years.

Earlier this week, SpaceX was forced to abort the launch of the Starship rocket minutes before its scheduled flight after a “pressurant valve” on the rocket appeared to be frozen, according to the company CEO Elon Musk.

SpaceX became the first privately owned corporation to send astronauts into space in 2020 after ferrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on its Falcon 9 rocket, the world’s first orbital-class, reusable rocket. Starship is also designed to be fully reusable.